←Recommendations of I WILL NEVER PLAY HAMLET

A terrific monologue for an older actor about the brutal reality of aging and how circumstances — sometimes internal, sometimes external — can limit our potential. I loved this piece.

In “I Will Never Play Hamlet,” Smith masterfully weaves humor, nostalgia, and the bittersweet reality of aging actors. Bravo!

What a beautiful monologue. All of us have those dreams and desires to be something or be some body and for an actor I'm sure that there are so many who would have a role that was their dream role. Eric's story is one not just for those who wish to play Hamlet or be in Shakespeare or any other role on stage, Eric's monologue is for everyone who still dreams and those, we hope are for most everyone as they go through life.

A wry and witty elegy to the role that never was. Desired intensely, but never attained. Eric is sympathetic in his ambitions and in his tortuous journey to acceptance. The conclusion is set up well and is quite funny.

What a character Eric is! We all know an Eric, the nearly was actor, full of talent and ability but never seems to get the big break. Alas poor Eric, we know him well.
This is a great monologue and subtle wit builds on each line.
Great!

As an actor, I've done "Othello" twice! I've also done the King of France in "Henry V", Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice", the friar in "Much Ado About Nothing", Antipholus of Syracuse in "Comedy of Errors", Brutus in "Julius Caesar", et al. Yet the closest I ever got to 'the Dane' was playing Claudius in a disastrous production of - yes, "Hamlet". It goes without saying that I felt every ounce of this characters pain and regret. And - to add insult to injury - I read the damned play TWICE! Mr. Smith struck a vital nerve. Kudos!

Paul Smith brilliantly captures an aging actor’s lament about never landing that big role. The role he auditioned for time and again, memorized, and watched as others did injustice to it. There comes a time when we have to face certain facts. And this character has reached that time with a sense that he will make the best of it. This monologue gives an older actor the chance to show he still has a lot left in the tank. I wish I weren’t running on empty.

I found this monologue particularly appealing especially in the wake of a certain well known 82 year old actor playing Hamlet this past summer. The funny references to a play we know so well only faintly cover the pain of putting oneself out there time after time. Effortlessly poignant. Indeed, "the expectation and longing is very tiring."

The dreams of an actor, longing to play a role that continually eludes him, never the bride, not even the bridesmaid, or even an usher, but the guy at the wedding who is charge of making the punch. Oh how I relate to this role and how I relate to this monologue. This monologue, the space of minutes, details the hopes and dreams, both shattered and ever present of every actor with a story to tell, of the role that escapes them.

Ah, the smell of the crowd, the roar of the grease paint! I'm not sure just how much of this tale of a would be thespian is Paul's recollection or his imagination, but I felt for his luckless character. As a Glaswegian, I can well imagine him on stage next to some talentless but considerably louder fellow player. But fear not good readers, what has been lost to the Globe is now our pleasure as he has swapped make up for pen and ink. Paul Smith, I felt for you...